It is known that parts can be made out of plastics material to have a face that is entirely covered in a decorative film, such as motor vehicle bodywork parts, for example, in which the outside face is coated in a film of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) which has the appearance of paint, thereby avoiding the need to paint parts that have been made in that way.
A known method of manufacturing such a part consists in preforming the decorative film to give it the same shape as the surface of the part that it is to cover, in placing the preformed film in the recess of a mold whose cavity defines the part that is to be made, and then introducing a quantity of plastics material in the molten state into the mold cavity so as to be overmolded on the decorative film.
At present, such a method is implemented only for making bodywork parts in which the entire external face is coated in the decorative film, because the action of introducing thermoplastic material in the molten state into the mold tends to unstick and move the preformed film which is already in position against the mold cavity prior to the molten plastics material being introduced therein.
By providing a film over the entire external face of the part, such problems are avoided since the film as positioned in the mold covers the entire surface over which the plastics material flows within the mold.
In contrast, for bodywork parts having an outside surface that is not to be completely painted, for example the shields of bumpers or the bottom portions of the bodywork, or radiator grilles, or indeed door panels that are provided with an unpainted protective bead, and also for bodywork parts that are to have two different colors over their surfaces, traditional painting continues to be used, thereby requiring a large amount of preparatory masking work i.e. work which consists in masking those portions of the part that are not to be painted.
It will be understood that such preparation considerably increases the cost price of the parts concerned.
In addition, around the painted zone(s), it is necessary to provide a line of styling to hide any irregularities in the edge of the painted zone.
Unfortunately, in certain cases, the part would look better if such a line of styling could be omitted.